


The Witch with the Rainbow Dragon

by penman1023 (schultzjoe)



Category: The Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 21:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1319959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schultzjoe/pseuds/penman1023
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of related one-shots about Angela in which she is a dragon rider</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Witch with the Rainbow Dragon

Prologue

 

The riders where first spotted at about midday. The guards on the wall of Ilrea where the first to see the dragons, glittering like so many jewels in the afternoon sun. There were three of them, a massive orange dragon, and two smaller green ones, all winging their way closer to the city. They landed in on the cobbles outside of the main keep, where a welcoming party comprised of several other riders and leaders of the city stood waiting. The three riders alit upon the ground as soon as their dragons had landed. The men obviously all knew each and cried out greetings to one another.

The rider of the huge orange dragon solemnly presented a long, narrow chest, which the leader of the welcoming party took from him respectfully and cradled in his arms. Then, without another word, all of the men turned and walked back into the keep. Any geniality of moments before was abandoned in favor of grave solemnity. In the main part of the keep, a small crowd awaited them. The crowd was entirely comprised of children, all of whom where awestruck at the presence of these esteemed persons. All, that is, except for a single brown haired girl who continued chatting gaily to the boy beside her. The boy that she was speaking to looked up toward the riders and shushed her with a frightened look. The girl did stop talking, but did nothing to remove the grin that was plastered across her face. Several of the riders glared at her, but the leader ignored them and stepped to the front of the crowd of children. Without needing being told, the children formed a line in front of him, all of them craning their necks in order to keep the chest in sight at all times.

A tense silence seemed to hold the room captive. It held within itself the promise of unknowable and dire consequences for any who dared break it.

Silently, the leader opened the box to reveal an egg such as none of the children had ever seen before. It was about the size of a mans head and had a staggeringly bright rainbow coloration. As one, all of the children let out a pent up breath of astonishment that none of them had realized they were holding. The egg glittered like a massive iridescent jewel of unspeakable value; its surface was pattered with scales. The man holding the box boomed out in a loud voice that made the children all jump,”Each of you will approach the egg and rest your hand on it. If it happens that the egg does not respond please stand off to one side for the next person, if it does respond, however, you will follow me immediately”.

Nervously the first child came forward and hesitantly rested his hand on the egg. After a span of about five seconds, the boy removed his hand and walked off to the side, disappointment evident on his face. The line proceed in this fashion, every boy or girl that came forward was met with disappointment, as the egg gave no response. As the line worked its way toward the end, concern stared to show in the faces of the adults.

Then at last there was only one child left, the girl who had been talking upon the riders’ entrance. She was no longer smiling as she walked hesitantly up to the egg, resting both hands it its glittering surface. For the girl, the seconds seemed to drag on like hours. When her time was up, she made to withdraw her hands from the egg when suddenly, without warning, there was a loud creaking noise. 

The sound split the silence like thunder. 

For a moment, all was quiet, then the noise filled the air once again, this time accompanied by a violent shaking from the egg. The egg started rocking forward, backward, and side-wise so violently that the man holding the box had to set it on the ground for fear dropping it. The egg continued to shake as a hairline crack split the shell of the egg. All at once the top of the egg burst off and movement could be seen from within. A small reptilian head snaked out of the broken egg, tasting the air and blinking. The small creature forced the rest of its body out if the remains of the egg. 

The miniature dragon stood at only a foot high with a three-foot wingspan. Its coloration varied depending on what part of its body one was looking at. Its head and neck held lighter hues that darkened into a deep shades starting at the base of its throat and spreading down to its underbelly. Though there was a repetition of colors, upon careful inspection, one could see that no two scales were precisely the same shade. Everyone in the room stood like statues, waiting with baited breath to see what the small dragon would do. The dragon looked curiously around, before taking a step forward, only to lose its balance immediately and tumble forward out of the box. The spectators all jerked forward as if to catch the newborn reptile, including the small girl for whom the egg had hatched. 

As she caught the dragon in her small hands, she let out shriek of in pain as if scalded and immediately dropped it again. The dragon gave a squawk and righted itself on the floor, giving the girl what seemed for all the world to be a reproachful glare. The girl was cradling her right hand but it seemed the pain she had felt had passed. She lowered her hand to reveal a small circular silver design burned onto the palm of her hand. The girl stared at it in blank shock, seemingly unable to take in what she was seeing. Her thoughts were further derailed by the dragon deciding that now was the best time to hop into the girls lap, and curl up with its head resting on her knee. Slowly and uncertainly, the girl lowered her hand and stroked its head, giving a slight surprised jerk as the dragon began to purr like a cat. All at once, the girl became aware of a large presence looming above her and looked up to see the leader of the riders standing over her. 

He bore a small smile as he viewed the scene laid out before him. "And what" The leader asked "might your name be, young one?". The girl seemed to have regained some of her earlier spunk, and responded in a confident, if slightly nervous, tone " My name is Angela, Angela Mordowyrd"


End file.
